'Misguided' Spotted Lanternfly Traps Kill NYC Birds: Wildlife Group

NEW YORK CITY — At first, Sarah Valeri thought the dead birds and stray feathers she found stuck to trees near Brooklyn Army Terminal Saturday were a macabre art installation.

But when Valeri took a closer look, she saw something that left her "horrified": a live downy woodpecker struggling to escape a glue trap wrapped around the tree trunk.

What Valeri stumbled onto wasn't art, it was an accidental avian slaughter caused by glue traps apparently meant to kill invasive spotted lanternflies.

"It was quite a grisly scene," Valeri said.

Valeria, an artist and art therapist, rushed to rescue the woodpecker. But the bird later died, just like scores of others in what the Wild Bird Fund dubbed a "misguided pest control project."

"Many trees in the area were wrapped with sticky paper in a likely attempt to control spotted lanternflies," the Wild Bird Fund tweeted.

A spokesperson for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which runs Brooklyn Army Terminal, said an exterminator "immediately" removed the traps once officials learned the dangers they posed.

"The exterminator initially recommended and installed the traps low on the trees to protect them from spotted lanternflies who have been known to damage and kill trees," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"Going forward, we will not allow the use of these traps on the campus.”

New Yorkers have seen spotted lanternflies explode in numbers across the city this year as the sap-sucking insects flit through the air and swarm tree trunks in bug orgies.

Fears the lanternfly's spread could harm the state's grape vines prompted the city's parks department to issue a "one-time call": squish the bug on sight.

But experts have also warned New Yorkers against going overboard with measures that do more harm than good.

Glue traps are one such step that's literally overkill, said Catherine Quayle, social media director for the Wild Bird Fund.

“People should know that glue traps are indiscriminate, they kill anything that comes in contact with them,” she said.

"We do not ever recommend using glue traps."

Quayle said the Wild Bird Fund has dealt with glue traps meant for rodents instead snaring birds in the past, but their use against spotted lanternflies is new.

The Wild Bird Fund instead recommends using a "circle trap" — essentially a plastic-coated tunnel that bugs walk into — to capture lanternflies. More information on circle traps can be found here.

Such circle traps won't turn into the avian death traps that Valeri saw near Brooklyn Army Terminal — a field of trees studded with dead birds, struggling live ones and pulled-out feathers from others that somehow came loose.

And Quayle warned Good Samaritans against trying to remove the stuck birds from the glue traps themselves. She said the Wild Bird Fund recommends covering exposed sticky paper with paper towels and placing the entire package, bird and all, inside a ventilated container such as a cardboard box.

People should bring those bird-filled containers to the Wild Bird Fund or a licensed wildlife rehabber, which can be found here.

But even then the birds still aren't out of the woods, she said.

"Even if you can rescue a bird stuck in a glue trap, they typically take a long time in captivity for the feathers to regrow,” she said.

The woodpecker that Valeri tried to save likely died from stress, as did the other birds, Quayle said.

Valeri said she was disappointed to learn the woodpecker died. She hopes that its death can scare people away from using glue traps, whether against lanternflies or other wildlife.

Said Valeri, “We are really hoping that people stop using them."